Using the means-end framework as a theoretical foundation, this article conceptualizes, constructs, refines, and tests a multiple-item scale (E-S-QUAL) for measuring the service quality delivered b...

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E-S-QUAL: A Multiple-Item Scale for Assessing Electronic Service Quality

We investigate born-global firms as early adopters of internationalization – that is, companies that expand into foreign markets and exhibit international business prowess and superior performance, from or near their founding. Our explication highlights the critical role of innovative culture, as well as knowledge and capabilities, in this unique breed of international, entrepreneurial firm. Case studies are analyzed to better understand the early internationalization phenomenon and reveal key orientations and strategies that engender international success among these innovative firms. Case findings are then validated in a survey-based study. Despite the scarce resources typical of young firms, our findings reveal that born-global firms leverage a distinctive mix of orientations and strategies that allow them to succeed in diverse international markets. Findings have important implications for the internationalization of contemporary firms.

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Innovation, organizational capabilities, and the born-global firm

This study compares the predictive validity of single-item and multiple-item measures of attitude toward the ad (AAd) and attitude toward the brand (ABrand), which are two of the most widely measured constructs in marketing. The authors assess the ability of AAd to predict ABrand in copy tests of four print advertisements for diverse new products. There is no difference in the predictive validity of the multiple-item and single-item measures. The authors conclude that for the many constructs in marketing that consist of a concrete singular object and a concrete attribute, such as AAd or ABrand, single-item measures should be used.

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The predictive validity of multiple-item versus single-item measures of the same constructs

Does owner management necessarily eliminate the agency costs of ownership? Drawing on agency literature and on the economic theory of the household, we argue that private ownership and owner management expose privately held, owner-managed firms to agency threats ignored by Jensen's and Meckling's (1976) agency model. Private ownership and owner management not only reduce the effectiveness of external control mechanisms, they also expose firms to a "self-control" problem created by incentives that cause owners to take actions which "harm themselves as well as those around them" (Jensen 1994, p. 43). Thus, shareholders have incentive to invest resources in curbing both managerialand owner opportunism. We extend this thesis to the domain of the family firm. After developing hypotheses which describe how family dynamics and, specifically, altruism, exacerbate agency problems experienced by these privately held, owner-managed firms, we use data obtained from a large-scale survey of family businesses to field test our hypotheses and find evidence which suggests support for our proposed theory. Finally, we discuss the implications of our theory for research on family and other types of privately held, owner-managed firms.

Agency Relationships in Family Firms: Theory and Evidence

Marketing strategy-performance relationship: An investigation of the empirical link in export

The relationship between marketing strategy and performance has been well documented in the domestic marketing context. However, empirical work in the context of export marketing has been fragmente...

Marketing Strategy-Performance Relationship: An Investigation of the Empirical Link in Export Market Ventures:

Export performance research has proliferated in the last decade. Significant progress has been made in developing better theory and knowledge of the export performance of firms. However, the field of inquiry is characterized by a diversity of conceptual, methodological, and empirical approaches that inhibit the development of clear conclusions regarding the determinants of export performance. In this article, an updated review and synthesis of the empirical literature on determinants of export performance between 1987 and 1997 is offered. Using a combination of the narrative and vote‐counting approaches, 50 studies were identified, reviewed, and synthesized. Major directions for future research are also discussed.

The determinants of export performance: a review of the empirical literature between 1987 and 1997

The benefits of customer co-creation of value in the service context are well recognized. However, little is known about service failures in a co-creation context and the consequent roles of both firms and customers in the advent of service recovery. In conceptualizing a new construct, “customer participation in service recovery,” this study proposes a theoretical framework that delineates the consequences of the construct and empirically tests the proposed framework using role-playing experiments. The results indicate that, when customers participate in the service recovery process in self-service technology contexts, they are more likely to report higher levels of role clarity, perceived value of future co-creation, satisfaction with the service recovery, and intention to co-create value in the future. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed.

The effects of customer participation in co-created service recovery

Despite the strong interest in global marketing, there is no consensus in the literature about what constitutes global marketing strategy and whether it affects a firm’s global market performance. The authors develop a broad conceptualization of global marketing strategy, the GMS, that integrates three major perspectives—namely, the standardization, configuration–coordination, and integration perspectives—of global marketing strategy. They also develop a conceptual model that links the GMS to a firm’s global market performance. On the basis of a survey of business units competing in global industries, the authors find support for the broad GMS perspective and the fundamental relationship between the GMS and firms’ global market performance. The authors also discuss theoretical and managerial implications of their findings.

Shaoming Zou

Papers

Marketing strategy-performance relationship: An investigation of the empirical link in export

Marketing Strategy-Performance Relationship: An Investigation of the Empirical Link in Export Market Ventures:

The determinants of export performance: a review of the empirical literature between 1987 and 1997

The effects of customer participation in co-created service recovery

The GMS: A Broad Conceptualization of Global Marketing Strategy and Its Effect on Firm Performance